When Rebecca McIntosh started looking at day care options for her son four years ago she was shocked by the distinct lack of information about the options available in her local area.

Now, the Brisbane entrepreneur and mother of two has launched a website called 'Daycare Decisions', which is aimed at crowd sourcing information about day care centres, allowing people to post reviews and opinions of their experiences at the various centers throughout Australia.

"We've managed to get a website up with some great fact sheets and information for parents," she says, "and from this stage we're moving into development, where we're really looking at the criteria parents [use] to choose day care."

Ms McIntosh, who says the website is currently in phase one, was awarded a grant from the Brisbane Lord Mayors Entrepreneurs program fund to further develop the site.

"We're interested in knowing about [the criteria parents use]; we'll be trying to involve their ideas in the development.

"Whether they choose it by location, [if] they choose it by whether it provides nappies or food, if it has air conditioning," she says.

The website will have conditions of use guidelines and will be moderated to minimise the risk of people abusing the user generated content model for their own agenda.

Child care placements in Australia

According to a recent Productivity Commission report into Australia's child care sector, families in the inner city areas of Australia's biggest cities appear to face the biggest squeeze; while it is significantly more difficult to find a place for babies and children aged under three.

"They all have lists - the key is as soon as you have a positive pregnancy test, book that child care place," she says, "in Brisbane, parents on average, put their names down at eight centres."

Rebecca says the website won't be able to ease the pressure on finding places in individual child care centres; however it will help parents make a decision about what centres they might be interested in.

"We really want parents to find that information; I mean short of stalking people outside of the gates, you get a 10 minute tour, and you're left wondering 'what's it really like'.